


heroes always get remembered (but you know legends never die)

by nerdiests



Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Arguments, Character Death Isn't Always Permanent, Gen, Gift Fic, HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOAF I LOVE YOU VERY MUCH, I USED THE WRONG TAG AAAA here's the right one haah, Inspired by A Song (but not a songfic), Legend (Linked Universe) Is Very Secretive, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), People Being Justifiably Angry, Secrets, Violence, hi legend's immortal and there's nothing you can do about it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-09
Updated: 2019-11-09
Packaged: 2021-01-26 04:55:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21368521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdiests/pseuds/nerdiests
Summary: people think that legend's managed to make it through his adventures because of skill, wits, determination, and a healthy dose of courage. and his uncanny ability to bounce back from pretty much any injury, or avoid them altogether.that last one? not exactly the truth.
Relationships: Hyrule & Legend (Linked Universe)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 261





	heroes always get remembered (but you know legends never die)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sillus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sillus/gifts).

> this has been a fic a long time coming!! and i'm happy to gift it to the wonderful sillus, because she deserves the world and it's her BIRTHDAY TODAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOAF I LOVE YOU
> 
> in all seriousness, i've had this idea since i was driving back from a wedding at the end of september, now it's november and here we are lads!! it's finally here!! woo!! this is by far _the_ longest non-chaptered fic i've ever written and put out somewhere and i'm immensely proud of myself!! 
> 
> i'd like to thank leg for letting me tell him all the details, a miscellany of other people who let me tell them about this idea (you all know exactly who you are), and silona. silona, who's birthday kicked my ass into gear to write this whole damn thing. who listened to me rant about this in the car when the day before i was rambling about warriors and thom getting married for four and a half hours. who just listens to every idea i have. who plays minecraft and triforce heroes with me (and eli, on that second count). who writes some of the best fics i've ever read, and is letting me have the absolute honor of podficcing all of them. silona, i cherish you so much. happy birthday. enjoy the fic.

Legend hadn’t seen what others would call a “gift from the goddesses” as one. If it was any type of gift, it’d be an accursed one, because that’s all Legend saw it as. A curse. He’d never been a devout follower of any of the goddesses, despite being the chosen hero of the era. Was this his punishment? Maybe. But not for not believing, that he was sure of. What he was being punished for, though. That was the mystery.

He never wanted to tell the others about it. He had his secrets that he held close to his chest, as did everyone else. Legend kept a few things - no, a lot of things - a secret. The entirety of his venture on Koholint, for one. His ability to become a painting. And his curse. If Legend had it his way, none of them would ever find out about it. He could count on one hand how many people knew about it. Zelda, Ravio (for some ungodly reason), and... Marin. 

She was the one he’d told of his own will. He’d decided, months into his stay on Koholint, that he would tell her. She had listened, and she had believed him and that was the crucial thing. But now she was gone. And all Legend had left were his double, his sister, and himself. 

Legend was a secretive man. But this secret was one he would keep until the demise of everyone, except his own. Because that was the secret. Legend couldn’t die.

He didn’t know why this was, he just knew that it was true. He’d discovered that fact on his first adventure, when he’d been in the wilderness and got into a scuffle he shouldn’t have walked away from. He should’ve died in those woods, when he was thirteen and young and bright eyed and foolish. He remembers falling to the forest floor. He remembers feeling fainter and fainter as the edges of his vision blurred and the ground felt damp beneath him with something other than the dew on the grass. And he remembers waking up in that exact same spot, a hole torn in his tunic and a faint scar over where he’d been stabbed - oh god he’d been  _ stabbed _ . But he’d walked away from that. Legend didn’t know how or why, but he had. 

The rest of his adventures passed and he grew better at avoiding fatal blows, as any experienced adventurer would. He went through six adventures - one that seemed like a fever dream but he still had the dress and everything else to prove it - and his secret had stayed locked up in the depths of his mind, only ever being told to one person and being revealed to two others. And Legend wouldn’t reveal this secret of his. It wouldn’t be something ever coming to light, not if he had his way.

With the start of his seventh adventure with the rest of him (and that was a weird sentence to say, wasn’t it?) but also not him, Legend knew none of them could ever find out. He would never let it slip. Besides, as Four had put it, they were all sitting on secrets. Some of them just had more than others did. 

Legend knew that he had the most. He talked of six adventures, but he hid the contents of his fourth from them all. He didn’t talk about his Zelda, about how she was his younger sister. His twin, who he hadn’t known existed until the end of his first adventure. He refused to talk about the time he’d fought what looked like four different copies of Four on his first adventure within the Pyramid in the Dark World. He didn’t talk about the Moon Pearl and what it did. He didn’t talk about when he’d been cursed to turn into a painting, and why he wasn’t stuck as one. And he kept his most important secret so close to his chest that it was barely obvious it existed. 

Legend was a secretive man. They all knew that. Unlike Sky or Wind or Hyrule, Legend gave the bare minimum on everything he’d done. It wasn’t their business. Yes, he was a Link and he’d saved not only his Hyrule multiple times, but four other countries as well (they didn’t need to know about Koholint, no one did). They didn’t need to know much else. Hell, he didn’t even intend for them to find out about Ravio, but it happened. But he wouldn’t be letting any more secrets slip through the cracks. Not if he could help it. But they all made it ridiculously hard to keep  _ anything _ a secret. He’d caught Wind trying to snoop through his journal when he’d left it unattended not just one time, but multiple times. Thank the goddesses that he wrote it in a language that no one else could ever read. The perks of being the only person to know a language, he supposed. 

What Legend hated about being a secretive man, though, was the unending questions he would get from everyone. Most of them from their youngest, but there was a healthy amount of questions from everyone in their motley gathering of Links. He tended to dodge his way around them most of the time, and the times he couldn’t he would work his way to a subject change. Legend knew that some of them - namely Time, Twilight, Four, and Warriors - had noticed him dodging answers to questions anyone asked, but none of them called him out on it. For that, at least, Legend was grateful. Sometimes… You get asked questions you don’t want answers to. 

One of these days, Legend knew his secrets would spill. Maybe all at once, maybe one at a time, but they would come out. For now, though, Legend would keep all of them locked away until such a time that he deemed fit to let them come out. And that time would be never, if he had his way. He knew that wouldn’t be the case, but he could hope. Hoping could only get him so far, but he’d do it nonetheless. 

Though. There were certain times that would test his patience. Like what the rest of the group was doing now. Wind was eagerly talking about some of the events of his first adventure - the final fight with Ganondorf, if Legend was hearing correctly - and a solid half of the group was listening in eagerly. Hyrule, Four, Sky, and Wild were all enraptured by the story, and Warriors and Twilight were both listening with interest. Time wasn’t facing the group, but Legend could tell he was listening in as well. They’d been trading stories about their adventures for the past hour now, starting with Wild talking about the time he’d been flung off a cliff by a giant rock monster he’d called a Talus, then Sky had talked about the time he’d ventured through a flooded forest in search of things he said were called “Tadtones”, then Warriors had offhandedly brought up the time he’d singlehandedly taken down a “King Dodongo.” From how Warriors talked about it, it seemed like it was a big deal and all, but Legend had taken on a Dodongo by himself when he was fourteen. If it was as easy as that battle had been, Legend didn’t think it’d be all that hard to take on a “King Dodongo.” 

But now Wind was wrapping up his story - him and his Zelda (he’d said Tetra was her name) had ended up getting saved by Tetra’s pirate crew as they floated in the ocean above the flooded ruins of the Hyrule of old - and everyone would be expecting another one. He expected Hyrule or Four to pick up the slack, but as Wind finished talking his eyes fell on Legend, and there was a spark of interest there.  _ Oh no _ . 

“Hey, Legend! Why don’t you tell a story?” Wind asked. The rest of the group all turned towards him, and Legend blanked for a couple seconds. This was. Not good. No sir, not at all. How could he put this…

“No,” Legend replied simply. Wind’s face fell, and there were a few confused looks from the others. 

“Why not?” Hyrule asked simply, equal parts disappointment and curiosity. Goodness, some of them could just act like children sometimes. Legend sighed. He wouldn’t get any writing in his journal done tonight. He was going to go to bed soon anyways. Snapping his journal shut and securing it in his bag, Legend locked eyes with Hyrule. 

“I don’t want to,” he said, shrugging and attempting to put on a nonchalant air. It succeeded pretty well, based on the pout Wind was giving him. He looked back down at his bag, but he knew that everyone was still looking at him. 

“C’ _ mon _ , Legend. You never tell any stories and you’re always vague about everything!” Wind said. Were Legend and Time the only real adults here? Twilight and Warriors might be older than he was, but neither of them really acted their ages all the time. ...Actually, scratch his assumption.  _ He _ was the only adult here, Time could be such a little shit sometimes. 

“Maybe I don’t want to talk about it, hm?” Legend replied, looking up for a second to raise an eyebrow before looking back down at his pack. He was going to idly reorganize everything in his pack until they stopped looking at him. 

“You’re such a  _ downer _ ,” Wild said, groaning loudly. There was a hum of agreement from Wind, and Legend just shrugged. Did he look like he cared about that? He cared about not telling anyone his damn secrets! 

“But  _ why  _ do you not want to talk about it?” Wind asked. Legend scoffed. 

“I  _ don’t _ . Is that not a good enough reason for you? Or do you not want to-” Legend was cut off by another voice, one that he wasn’t necessarily expecting but was welcome nonetheless. 

“No need to badger him, Wild, Wind,” Twilight cut in, and Legend glanced up at that. Twilight wasn’t who he was expecting to come to his defense, but he wasn’t expecting anyone so Twilight was better than no one, he supposed. He locked eyes with Twilight for a few seconds, who gave him an understanding look, before turning back to Wind and Wild and started talking to them about why they shouldn’t push people into doing things they don’t want to do and how they wouldn’t like anyone to do that to them, would they? 

While Twilight was doing that, Legend turned to Time. Time raised an eyebrow, and Legend gestured towards the edge of the campsite they’d claimed as their own. Time shrugged. Legend knew that Time was set to be on first watch that night, but at this point he wanted to get away from the rest of the camp. And with Time’s approval to take his watch shift, Legend shifted a bit, before getting up and heading out a bit further from the camp. The only people that actually noticed him walking away were Hyrule, Warriors, and Sky. But none of them said a word, and for that Legend was grateful. 

* * *

For a while, Legend’s reluctance to talk about anything in detail from any of his adventures was put out of the group’s collective consciousness. They didn’t talk about their adventures or anything like that, just about nothing in particular. Stuff they missed, things they were going to do after their adventure. Warriors in particular spent what Legend thought was way too much time waxing poetic about his boyfriend, but it kept spirits high. 

Eventually, though. The tension that was created during Legend’s refusal to talk about his adventures - and he didn’t need to talk about his adventures, they should respect his privacy as much as they wanted their own privacy respected - would build up and up and up and it would  _ snap _ . Legend didn’t know when it would happen, but he knew it would. He really didn’t want it to, he didn’t. But it would. So Legend tried to avoid it. He didn’t want to have an argument pop up and end with him snapping at someone. 

But what Legend hadn’t noticed was Hyrule keeping an eye on him. Watching him, trying to make his own guesses at things. Legend, who was too preoccupied trying to ignore tension building up in one source completely missed the other source of it. 

It all came to a head about a month after Legend’s quasi-argument with Wind and Wild, when they’d just switched over from Four’s Hyrule to Wild’s. Legend had semi-relaxed, thinking that the tension that had built up had died down to some extent, but because he’d only been looking in one place for tension in their group that would be his ruin. 

The evening it happened, Legend could recall the most minute of details. There was a slight chill in the air, and dew on the grass just outside the cave they took refuge in from the rain that had just ended. Wild was having a fair amount of trouble starting a fire with the damp wood he found, even with the magical help that the flameblade he had provided him. Twilight had been swearing under his breath with his tongue poking from between his teeth as a piece of charcoal glided over the page. Warriors was writing a letter, tapping his pencil against his cheek as he thought. Wind and Four were chatting about how odd the weather was in Wild’s Hyrule, and they managed to drag Time and Sky into their discussion. And Legend himself? He’d been sorting a few things in his pack, because he needed something to do with his hands and he wasn’t risking pulling his journal out. But Hyrule hadn’t been doing anything. At the time, Legend hadn’t thought about it much. But in hindsight, he should have. 

“Hey Legend? I have a question for you,” Hyrule said, catching Legend off guard. He nearly dropped his boomerang onto his foot from where he held it. He didn’t bother with putting up the boomerang, instead opting to put it in his lap, and ignored all the eyes on him and Hyrule. 

“Yeah? What is it?” Legend asked, trying to seem nonchalant. This wasn’t a situation he wanted to be in. He had no clue what kind of question Hyrule would be asking. 

“You always talk about your second and third adventures, and your sixth, but you don’t go into a lot of detail about your first, or your fourth, or your fifth. Why?” Hyrule asked.  _ Dammit.  _ Legend knew Hyrule was perceptive. Of course he was, Hyrule came after him in the timeline and living in a world like theirs you had to be. 

“Because it’s my business. Is it not enough to know that I saved Hyrule twice, and multiple other places?” Legend replied. If he could just… Evade this line of questioning, it’d be better. But considering that the seven other members of their travelling party had all stopped what they were doing to listen to this play out, that wasn’t likely at all. So he’d have to try and meet this line of questioning head on. 

“But you always evade every single question we ask about it! You don’t need to be deliberately cagey, we’ve all dealt with weird stuff on our adventures!” Hyrule said, his voice growing louder as he spoke. 

“Maybe I just don’t want to talk about it! Did you think about that, Hyrule?” Legend fired back, reaching to move his sword a bit closer to him. His fight or flight instinct was ready to kick in and if he needed to run, he would. He didn’t care how running from his problems would make him look - and it’s not like he was running from his  _ problems _ , just some questions he didn’t want to answer! That was all!

“Sometimes you need to share more than the bare minimum, Legend! That’s all you’ve given us about half of your quests, that you saved Hyrule or Hytopia or Holodrum or Labrynna or wherever you were with that fourth adventure of yours, but you’ve said next to nothing else about them!” This time, Hyrule was shouting. His face had gone a bit red, and Legend knew that his was likely in a similar state. 

“Well… What about Time and Wind? They’re deliberately obtuse about facts surrounding their adventures! Wind doesn’t talk about how his second adventure doesn’t even make sense, and Time’s just full of secrets!” Legend replied, a bit flustered. 

“This isn’t about them, it’s about you, Legend!” Hyrule shouted. 

“I don’t give a  _ fuck _ if it’s just about me, it’s bullshit that you’re focusing on me and ignoring other people that’re doing the exact same  _ damned _ thing!” Legend shouted back, grabbing his sword sitting next to him with one hand and his boomerang with the other. He stood up, and so did Hyrule. They stared for a moment, and Legend opened his mouth to speak. Twilight beat him to it though. 

“...Hey, no need to get so heated, we can jus-” Twilight’s words were interrupted by Legend whirling around with his sword and pointing it at him. Now  _ that _ caught everyone off guard. Wild made to move, but Time gave him a minute shake of his head. 

“Shut the  _ fuck _ up, you don’t get to speak. You’re keeping secrets too, and no one fucking calls you out on it either! You’re so fucking  _ obvious _ about it too, and that’s the worst part! This is bullshit! All of it!  _ Bullshit! _ ” Legend yelled. His arm holding the sword was shaking because Legend was shaking with rage, and it was extremely lucky for Twilight that Legend was far enough away that the sword was nowhere near him. Legend’s arm holding the sword slowly fell back to his side, and he turned back towards Hyrule. 

“Right now, I know two things. You’re calling me out for not sharing, when  _ every single one of us _ has secrets we don’t want to share, but you’re asking  _ me _ to share what I’d rather not? That’s hypocrisy right there!” Legend barked out a harsh laugh, his eyes narrowing. 

“The other thing that I know? I don’t want to fucking  _ be here. _ ” With those words, Legend stalked off, heading out of the cave, out of the small clearing immediately outside the cave, and into the woods surrounding them. He didn’t care where he went, as long as it was away from the rest of them. Fucking  _ hypocrites _ , Four had said they all had secrets and everyone had been respecting everyone’s privacy, but they try and invade  _ his _ personal life? Fuck that. 

Hyrule, meanwhile, was staring at the empty space Legend had been standing a few seconds prior, breathing heavily. So was everyone else, as a matter of fact. 

“Well. That escalated quickly,” Four said, breaking the silence that had been put in place by Legend’s angry leave. 

“I was… Not expecting to have a sword pointed at my face today,” Twilight mumbled, almost to himself. Warriors, from where he was seated nearby Twilight, reached over to give Twilight a pat on the shoulder.

“You’ll get used to expecting the unexpected sword pointing at your face. Don’t worry,” Warriors said simply, and Twilight blustered at that. 

“What do you mean, get used to it? Have you had people unexpectedly pointing swords at you?” Twilight asked, voice full of concern. Warriors just shrugged, and Twilight watched him incredulously. Hyrule, meanwhile, had finally calmed himself down sufficiently and had turned towards the group at large. 

“Are… Are none of you worried about Legend?” Hyrule asked. No one really paid much attention to that, but Twilight turned to look at him and raised an eyebrow. 

“You’re worrying about the guy that you just got into a yelling match with?” Twilight asked, skeptical. Hyrule nodded a few times. 

“He’s… He’s like family, Twilight. Might get into arguments but you’ll worry about them regardless,” Hyrule said. Twilight gave a glance at… Warriors, strangely, before looking back at Hyrule and nodding. 

“I get that. But he needs to cool off a bit. You go and find him now and you’ll both work yourselves into another argument. He’ll either come back here, or you’ll go out and find him in an hour or two,” Twilight said. Hyrule knew Twilight was right on some level, but he was still going to fret about it. About Legend. He’d gone out into the forest and Legend wasn’t familiar with Wild’s Hyrule! He knew he’d just got into an argument with him and he’d been the reason Legend had stalked off like that, but he didn’t want Legend to get hurt! Hyrule wouldn’t wish harm on anyone.

Unbeknownst to Hyrule, he’d started pacing around the cave they were in. He just walked back and forth, from the cave entrance back to where Twilight sat. Back and forth and back and forth and back. Warriors, Four, Wind, and Twilight watched him as he paced, seemingly unaware that he was. 

“I’m going to go after him,” Hyrule said after a substantial amount of time had passed. Twilight laughed. 

“Good thing, too. You’ve been pacing for the past twenty minutes. Wild thinks he’ll get a fire lit soon, so you’ve got two hours,” Twilight said. Hyrule balked. 

“I’ve been  _ pacing? _ ” he asked, incredulous. At that, Four and Wind started laughing. 

“You really didn’t notice?” Four asked. Hyrule shook his head, and that only got Four and Wind to laugh louder. Hyrule pouted at the two of them and turned back to Twilight. 

“Do you think that Wild would have any idea where Legend went?” Hyrule asked. Before Twilight could speak, Wild piped up from where he was holding his flameblade next to the wood to dry it out.

“No clue. I didn’t get a good look at where he was running when he went into the woods, so I can’t give any guesses,” Wild said, tilting the angle of the sword a bit to get it closer to the actual wood without touching it. Hyrule frowned, looking out at the forest for a moment, before grabbing his sword and shield. He hesitated for a moment, before grabbing the rest of his pack as well. Legend might go and get himself hurt. 

“I’ll be back. With Legend,” Hyrule said, before walking out of the cave and off into the forest where he’d seen Legend run. With any luck, he’d be able to find Legend in time for dinner, and be able to apologize for putting him on the spot like that. He didn’t mean for everything to get that loud. Or that confrontational. Maybe… Maybe he should’ve asked that question when it was just the two of them. It might’ve gone better that way. 

* * *

“Goddessdamned bullshit,” Legend grumbled to himself, marching angrily through the forest. His knuckles were white around the hilt of his sword, and every tree he passed by he’d smack with his boomerang. It was a bit nicer than punching each tree he came across, because it wasn’t ever nice to have your fist in a bloody mess. Legend knew from experience. 

“Calling me out in front of the whole  _ fucking _ group, invading my  _ privacy _ and ignoring the fact that I said I didn’t want to  _ fucking talk about it, goddesses be damned _ ,” Legend growled, smacking another tree repeatedly. His boomerang cut a deep gash into the bark as it slammed into the tree over and over. Eventually, Legend stopped, if only because he’d knocked his knuckles against the tree instead of his boomerang. 

“Can’t they respect what I want to do? No?  _ Bullshit, _ ” Legend said, shaking the hand he’d accidentally smacked the tree with and leaving the boomerang stuck inside the tree for a few seconds, before grabbing it and continuing to stomp his way through the forest, ignoring all the sticks that snapped underfoot. Legend wasn’t exactly of the mind that there could be enemies in the woods, he was just being angry for the sake of being angry. In the back of his mind he knew that whoever would come to find him could find him pretty easily with his trail of trees with scratches all over them. 

With a huff, Legend smacked the next tree, letting the boomerang get lodged deep in the wood. When he went to go pull the boomerang from the wood, though, he found that he couldn’t.

“You’re  _ shitting  _ me,  _ no _ !” Legend said angrily, yanking on the boomerang again. It refused to budge. He didn’t even bother with trying to yank on it again, instead moving to grab his sword. With a yell, Legend slammed the blade into the tree, right at the join where the boomerang met the wood. With an angry cracking noise, the tree started to teeter away from him, before falling over. His boomerang fell the opposite way, finally freed from the confines of its wooden prison. He took a moment to let his anger dissipate and smirked at the tree that had  _ dared _ to try and take his boomerang. 

Now that his problem was solved and his head had cooled slightly, Legend surveyed the area around him. He was in the middle of nowhere. Brilliant. He could probably find his way back to camp at this point, but he didn’t particularly feel like heading back there. To him, it felt like he’d be crawling back to ask for forgiveness, and that wasn’t what he was doing. So Legend marched on. 

As he walked, the sun started to sink lower on the horizon. Legend really didn’t want to be stuck outside when it was dark out, but if that was what would happen, then so be it. He’d seen a few apple trees along his route, and he could eat some of those and sleep up in one of the trees. He’d slept up in trees on his previous adventures when he was down on rupees, he could manage it for the night. They’d just switched Hyrules that day, so there wasn’t any reason to worry about them switching over with Legend so far off. If anything, he’d probably end up coming back the next morning. 

Sighing to himself, Legend sat down next to the tree he’d felled in his boomerang rage - boomerage, if you would. If he really was going to spend his night out here, he might as well try and start getting those apples he saw on the trees he’d walked by a while back. So Legend started retracing his steps, following the gashes on the trees back towards camp. He’d noticed a small grove with some apple trees near it in his haze of rage. That’d be the perfect place to pick up a few apples to munch on, and if he could find somewhere with fresh water he’d be even better off. 

Legend started humming quietly as he walked, trying to fill the relative silence around him. The woods were too quiet for his tastes - no birdsong, even this late in the evening, and the crickets hadn’t started up yet, so he found it odd - so Legend filled the woods with songs he’d learned over his years of travelling. Some folksongs from Labrynna or Holodrum, a haunting melody best accompanied with a piano and drums he’d picked up in Subrosia, a few jaunty barsongs he’d learned from Lorule, and even the tune from the clothing shop in Hytopia. The silence lessened, with Legend filling the trees around him with the song that the birds seemed to not pick up. 

What really threw Legend off was the lack of wildlife around him. He’d at least expected to come across a deer or two, maybe some wild boar, but he didn’t see anything of the sort. It really threw him off, but he didn’t let that show on his face. It plagued his thoughts, but he wasn’t going to let his emotions win over his face too. 

In the middle of his not-so-swift hike back to the grove, something Legend saw made him pause. A few platforms made of flimsy wood and bones, some overturned logs, a big campfire, some wooden crates and metallic boxes, and a few weapons tossed around on the ground. Legend glanced back at the trees he was walking by. Yeah, he’d passed by this camp on his angry march out to wherever he’d ended up. 

“How the hell did I not get spotted?” Legend asked, moving to duck behind one of the larger trees. He hadn’t gotten the best glimpse at the camp itself, but he didn’t want to get caught in a battle he wasn’t prepared for. All he had was his sword and his boomerang, he didn’t have any of his other items. Hell, he didn’t have any of his medallions or rings or anything, because he’d taken them all off to sort through them! He wasn’t even wearing his tunic, he was just in the green undershirt! Getting into a fight now would be the worst case scenario, even if he did have the advantage of coming back from literally anything they could throw at him. Well, there were a few things he was pretty sure even  _ he _ couldn’t survive, but he didn’t want to test that. 

Peering around from behind the tree again, Legend noticed something. The camp was… Extremely empty. Nothing was even close to it that was alive that wasn’t him, and Legend wasn’t necessarily sure he wanted to find out why that was. But if nothing was in the camp… Legend could just go on past and not worry about anything. So he moved out from behind the tree and started walking, when a truly  _ delectable _ smell caught his attention. His head whipped around, and Legend’s eyes focused in on the source of the smell - a huge cut of meat roasting above the campfire. How had he not noticed it before? 

“Maybe I could…” Legend murmured to himself, taking stock of the situation. The camp was empty. Theoretically, all the enemies that had called this camp home could’ve all been killed ages ago, but that cut of meat looked fairly fresh. So the monsters all had to be around here somewhere, though Legend was guessing they weren’t that nearby. If they were, he would’ve noticed them in his rage-blinded march through the woods. Or, at least he hoped he would’ve noticed. 

After a few seconds of thinking, Legend decided that the benefits of grabbing that prize cut of meat outweighed the disadvantages and he quickly made his way into the camp, stepping over the weapons he saw. The enemies in this camp wouldn’t be back before he made off with his prize, anyways. 

As Legend reached out to take the cut of meat, he grinned to himself. He was getting some wonderful meat without having to do any work to get it. And even though he didn’t have anything to eat with that wasn’t his hands, Legend was happy that he at least had this. Although, his good mood wasn’t going to last. Because right as his fingers brushed against the cut - a bit dry, but he’d had worse - there was a loud roar from across the clearing. Legend’s head snapped up, and he saw a small army of bokoblins and moblins - all native to Wild’s Hyrule, and all of them in silver or gold colors. 

“Mother  _ fucker _ ,” Legend swore loudly, giving up on his half-baked plan of pretending he didn’t exist and jumping away from the fire. He took stock of his situation. The group numbered ten - eight bokoblins, two moblins, half of the bokoblins gold and the other half silver and both moblins silver-colored as well - and although half of them didn’t carry weaponry, both of the moblins held a weapon of some sort. One carried a sword, and the other held a claymore, both of what Wild had called the “royal” variety. 

“I am so screwed. Fuck you, Hylia,” Legend muttered to himself, his grasp on his sword tightening as he lifted it up in front of him. Guess he would be getting into a fight today. Brilliant. As the bokoblins started running at him - admittedly a bit stiltedly - Legend lifted up his sword and tucked his boomerang into his belt. 

“Bring it, you little shits,” Legend said, more to hype himself up than to intimidate bokoblins. The only thing you really needed to intimidate bokoblins was having a weapon twice the size of yourself (according to  _ Wild _ , at any rate). Unfortunately, all Legend had was his tempered sword, so that would have to do. 

Everything was a whirlwind around him as the fighting started. Most of the bokoblins had clubs or spears of some sort - stay out of range of the spears even if they look like they’re made of wood and bone, those splinter, don’t want to get stuck on one of those - but there were two bokos carrying bows, one carrying a sword, and one of the moblins held a claymore. Bad news for Legend, who had to keep up a constant fervor of ducking and trying to get hits in when he could. If he had his shield he’d allow himself to get more daring with his attacks, but as it was he was already on the defensive. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted another attempt to bludgeon him with a gigantic spiked bat, and Legend snapped himself from his thoughts. No time to think. 

He spun out of the way of the bat, started whirling his sword around, and sprung away the moment he felt his sword hit something. One of the silvers fell to the ground, its head detached from its body. Legend didn’t even pause, keeping up with his assault on the rest of the monsters. 

One sword swing to counter the stab of a spear here, one duck away from a sword there, and a counterattack swiftly to follow that. Legend was developing a rhythm. Swing, duck, spin, slash, skid. It was a mark to Legend’s fighting ability that he managed to get a few cuts from the sword carried by one of the gold bokos and a couple nicks from close calls from arrows. There was a long gash on the left side of his tunic, and Legend thought that absentmindedly he’d have to repair that before going back to camp. He didn’t want to worry anyone. 

Although that worry was all for naught, when he heard an extremely familiar cry of worry.

“Legend!” Snapped from his rhythm of movement, Legend looked over to see Hyrule running straight at him. Because of this, he missed the club swinging around towards his already-injured side. As he opened his mouth to yell at Hyrule to leave, he saw Hyrule’s eyebrows raise almost comically, before he was thrown across the clearing. His side felt like it was on  _ fire _ . He still had his sword in his hand surprisingly, and thankfully his boomerang had been tucked into his belt on his other side. Reaching over to touch where the club had barrelled into him, his fingers came away damp and red. Almost as an afterthought to the pain he felt in his side, Legend had a thought. Well, now his shirt would definitely need to be repaired. 

“ _ Legend!” _ The worried cry of his name snapped him out of his somewhat addled thoughts. Oh, right. Hyrule was here. Hovering over him as the bokoblins and moblins started to process that neither of their quarries were present. They’d notice where the two of them were soon enough, Legend knew. Despite this, Legend shoved at Hyrule without an ounce of urgency as he started wringing his hands. 

“Oh goddesses, I threw my pack off to the side and that’s where all the potions were, this isn’t good,” Hyrule muttered worriedly, and Legend shoved at him again.

“I can still fight, stop your worrying,” Legend replied, grabbing his sword and using it as extra support to get himself off the ground. Hyrule gave him a worried look, and Legend rolled his eyes. 

“If you’re so worried, we can always fight close to one another,” Legend said. This didn’t appear to assuage Hyrule’s fears, but he nodded.

“That way, at least, I can cover your bad side with my shield,” Hyrule said, more to assure himself than to assure Legend of anything. Legend cracked a grin, hoping to help Hyrule feel a little bit better. 

“Yeah. Let’s get rid of these little shits,” Legend said, taking his sword out of the ground and standing on slightly unsteady legs. He didn’t need them to be steady as long as they worked. Taking a deep breath, he stood next to Hyrule hefted up his sword, and  _ that _ is when the monsters noticed where the two were. 

“Get ready, Hyrule,” Legend murmured. Hyrule only nodded, lifting up his own sword and shield with a grim expression. They would have to put their all into this, Legend thought. And with nary a second to spare afterwards, the monsters were on them. 

Legend and Hyrule worked cohesively, fighting back to back as the bokoblins surrounded them. Legend ended up having to catch the strikes from some of the clubs the bokoblins held with the blade of his sword to make sure those attacks wouldn’t hit Hyrule. And Hyrule made sure to catch all the arrows from the archer Legend hadn’t managed to take out on his shield. They all fell to the ground, with some of the arrows snapping. Legend took care to avoid the arrowheads, because even if the bows were poorly crafted, the arrows themselves were not. He didn’t want to have one get stuck in his boot, because that’d be a pain in the ass to remove. 

As the duo whittled at the bokoblins circling around them, Legend kept an eye on the moblins behind them. They hadn’t charged in yet, which Legend thought was odd. He knew that the moblins knew that they weren’t friendly, but they weren’t attacking. Yet. 

“Those moblins are acting odd!” Legend called out, blocking another swipe from a club with the flat of his blade before stabbing forward with his sword. Hyrule caught another arrow on his shield, swinging out his own blade shortly after. 

“What do you mean odd?” Hyrule shouted back. They might be close to one another, but the noises of monsters around them mid-battle didn’t make for easy conversation. 

“They’re not attacking even though all these bokos are! And that has suspicious written all over it!” Legend replied in kind as he managed to stab one of the golds in the stomach. It fell to the ground as it squealed and succumbed to the various cuts Legend had inflicted. There was an angry yell from the bokoblin next to it, and Legend quickly swiped his sword out at the source of the noise. The yell was cut off as Legend’s sword swiftly cut through the silver’s throat, causing it to collapse to the ground. 

“They might be biding their time!” Hyrule called back as a gurgling noise came from behind him. Legend knew he’d taken out two before Hyrule arrived, and with the most recent additions that meant their chances were closer to 2 to 1 than 4 to 1. Legend liked those odds, he thought. But of course, right as Legend had his thought, the odds turned to most definitely not be in their favor.  _ Thanks, Hylia.  _

“Shit,” Hyrule swore as the moblins lumbered over to them, their swords at the ready. Legend’s eyebrows rose. Hyrule,  _ swearing? _ Damn. Didn’t know he could do that. 

“Shit’s right, Hyrule!” Legend replied, locking his eyes on the moblins as they rushed - well, about as much as a moblin  _ could _ rush - over to their battle. One ambled over to Legend’s side, the other to Hyrule’s. There was a sickening crunch as the moblin stepped on one of the heads of its fallen comrades, and Legend had to take a breath to prevent himself from gagging. Disgusting. Shaking his head the smallest amount, Legend hefted his sword up to block a swing from the moblin - this one had the sword, so the other had to have the claymore - and barely managed to prevent himself from falling over. Why did he think he could block a moblin’s sword with his own when he was already standing on unsteady legs? He didn’t know. 

“Watch out for that claymore, Hyrule!” Legend called, moving a bit closer to the moblin. He didn’t hear Hyrule’s affirmative, but he assumed that Hyrule had heard. The moblin swung its sword again, and this time Legend ducked under the swing, stabbing forward with his sword after the moblin’s sword passed over his head. There was a mighty roar in response, and Legend yanked his sword from the moblin’s stomach as it swung its sword again, and Legend barely managed to duck. 

Chancing a glance behind him, Legend’s eyes widened. He ducked as the moblin in front of him swung its sword again, but his eyes were locked on the moblin holding the claymore. Hyrule was moving left and right and left and right again, trying desperately to avoid the heavy handed swings the monster was capable of. Not only that, Hyrule was trying to avoid the arrows from that damned archer. Legend reluctantly tore his eyes away, managing to get into the moblin’s space and getting a second stab into its gut. The moblin let out a mighty roar, and Legend angrily stabbed it again, putting more force behind it. As he yanked his sword out and the moblin roared even louder, he heard a cry. 

Whipping around, Legend saw Hyrule with an arrow sticking out of his leg. Hyrule faltered right as the moblin lifted its claymore, and Legend knew exactly what he needed to do. Ignoring the other enemies around them, Legend sprinted to Hyrule and shoved him out of the way. Just in time, too. The moblin’s claymore swung down, and Legend was in  _ agony. _ He heard seams ripping in his shirt, and chanced a look down. Oh. Now that was deep. There was a diagonal gash along his chest, and he was losing blood at a very rapid rate. 

“ ** _Legend!_ ** ” He heard an agonized scream as his knees gave out and he fell onto his back. His vision was fading out rapidly, as the grass below him started to grow damp and warm. He knew it was his own blood. Almost absentmindedly, he heard the crackling of thunder out of nowhere, and what he could see went teal. Oh. Hyrule must’ve cast a spell. Which one was that again…? He blinked, and he could see a blurry face in front of him. 

“Legend, Legend c’mon… No!” A familiar voice cried, and Legend let himself smile. Of course Hyrule would worry. But he didn’t need to. He tried to lift up his arm, but it wouldn’t move. 

“I’ll… Be fine, ‘rule,” Legend said, coughing. There was something warm on his face. The darkness was encroaching on all sides, and the last thing he saw before it all faded out was the pink and orange and yellow of the slowly darkening sky. 

* * *

When Legend’s eyes fluttered back open, his vision was blurry. There was a lot of green around him, and he could feel something damp underneath him. And he could hear sobbing. For a moment, he was caught off-guard, because there wasn’t anyone around that would be sobbing? Who was sobbing then? It was baffling, until Legend remembered. Oh. Yeah. He’d gone and died on Hyrule, who didn’t know. Well.

“Hyrule..?” Legend croaked, and wow his voice sounded horrible. He’d need to either drink something or wash his mouth out. Not at all to his surprise, there was a high pitched scream and Legend’s vision had a sword point front and center. 

“What the  _ fuck _ ,” Hyrule said, voice cracking in the middle of his sentence. Legend opened his mouth to speak again, when the sword’s point fell and as Legend’s vision cleared up a bit more, he could see Hyrule on his knees with his sword next to him. His face was red and his eyes were puffy and his voice was a bit hoarse. Legend opened his mouth to speak, but Hyrule beat him to it.

“What the  _ fuck _ was that Legend? You  _ died! _ ” Hyrule shouted. His voice cracked again, and Legend winced slightly. That was louder than he was expecting. This time, when Legend made to speak, he wasn’t interrupted. 

“I… It’s a long story,” Legend said, coughing after he spoke. He really needed water if he was going to talk. Hyrule reached over and passed him something. Water flask. Legend took a few sips, spitting out the first sip with a bit of blood and swallowing the rest. The water went down tasting of copper. He coughed a few more times, before sitting up.

“We’ve got time,” Hyrule replied as Legend passed him back his flask and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He could still taste copper in his mouth, but he’d make do for now. He glanced over at Hyrule and noted the absence of an arrow sticking out of his leg. He must’ve healed himself then. Looking away from Hyrule and taking a look down at his undershirt, Legend blanched. The seam at his left sleeve had been decimated, the green tinted a dark brown color along where the moblin had cut him. The ends of the fabric curled up a bit, and when Legend touched it, the fabric was still a bit damp. 

“If we’re going back to camp, I doubt I can wear this,” he muttered to himself. Before he could say anything, something soft smacked him in the face, before falling into his lap. Legend looked down to his lap to see one of Hyrule’s spare tunics. Legend looked back up to Hyrule looking away from him pointedly. 

“You can borrow that until we get back to camp,” Hyrule said, keeping his eyes on the trees around them. Legend hummed in reply, weaseling his way out of his ruined undershirt. Goddesses, this would be a nightmare to fix. At least he hadn’t been wearing his tunic at the same time, because then it would truly be a nightmare. Legend chanced a look down after he took off his shirt and whistled lowly at the sight. There was a wide scar across his chest, from his left shoulder down to his right hip. The edges were faint, but the center was a darker color than the rest. Hm. 

Without looking back down at the new scar he’d acquired, Legend wriggled his way into Hyrule’s borrowed undershirt. The shoulders were a bit too tight, but Legend would manage. Folding the ruined undershirt up and tucking it into his belt, Legend moved to stand back up. Before he could, though, there was a hand preventing him from doing so. 

“Are you sure you should be moving around, Legend?” Hyrule asked, his eyebrows furrowed worriedly. Legend shrugged. 

“Well, I feel about as fine as someone who was recently dead could feel, I guess. But this isn’t my first go-around, so I should be alright,” Legend said. He moved to stand up again, and this time Hyrule didn’t stop him. Although that might’ve been due to him being frozen in place. 

“What do you mean this has happened before?” Hyrule asked, voice quiet and shaking. Legend took a moment to think on what he’d just said. That might’ve not been the best choice of words. He sighed, looking around for his sword and his boomerang. Luckily, those were at least nearby. As he reached over to pick them up, Legend pondered. He’d need to tell Hyrule what exactly had happened, but. How to phrase it?

“Well. It’s a bit hard to explain, but I can try to,” Legend said, standing back up and dusting his boomerang off before tucking it into his belt - thankfully his own belt hadn’t been ruined, so he wore it with Hyrule’s undershirt. Hyrule also got up, grabbing his sword, shield and pack from the ground next to him. 

“We should probably head back to camp. It’s been an hour since I left to find you, I think,” Hyrule said, hefting his pack up onto one shoulder. Legend grimaced. He’d been gone for over an hour? And how long had he been out for?

“I guess we’ll walk and talk then,” Legend said, chancing a glance up at the sky. The sun had been growing closer to the horizon line when he’d “died,” but now there was barely any light left. They’d need to get back to camp before the light completely died. Or at least, they’d need to carry a torch. 

“I guess,” Hyrule replied, adjusting his pack a bit. Legend looked away from the horizon he could see, and glanced around the camp. The fire was still lit… There! He could carry a torch with his free hand. Making his way over to the campfire under Hyrule’s curious gaze, Legend grabbed a torch and lit it. 

“Oh, that’s a good idea,” Hyrule commented as Legend hefted the torch above his head. 

“We don’t want to get caught in the dark without a light. ‘Least we can follow the pockmarks I made in the trees with my boomerang,” Legend said, starting to head towards the edge of the clearing towards the forest proper. Hyrule fell into step beside him, and as they started their walk through the forest, it was quiet for a few moments. Eventually, though, the silence was broken.

“So. About what happened back there,” Legend said. Hyrule glanced over at him, a spark of some sort in his eyes. Legend couldn’t identify it, and he couldn’t say for sure whether it was a good kind of spark or a bad one. Hyrule didn’t say a word, though, only nodding for Legend to continue. Legend took a deep breath, before stopping and adjusting his grip on his sword. Hyrule came to a stop next to him and gave him a curious look. 

“I… In all my adventures, that’s happened at least once. I don’t know how it works, and I don’t know why it happens, it just does. I “die” and then I come back, all my wounds healed and only faint scars to speak of the memory,” Legend said, lifting up the bottom of his borrowed undershirt and tugged his shorts up a bit. Stark against his leg was an old scar, one that looked a bit similar to a star with how it spiked out.

“Got this one in my Hyrule. Arrow went straight threw and hit something vital, I ended up bleeding out,” Legend continued. That wasn’t a pleasant memory. He had just left a dungeon in Lorule and had gone back to Hyrule when he was ambushed by a group of soldiers. One of them had managed to get him in the leg, and he’d run off with the pegasus boots and barely made it to his house that Ravio had been taking residence in. That’s how Ravio had found out about this curse of his. Hyrule hissed as Legend let his shorts and borrowed tunic fall back to their original places. 

“That must’ve been painful,” Hyrule says, shaking his head slightly and looking back at Legend’s face. Legend nodded, before readjusting his grip on his sword and starting to walk again. Hyrule started trotting after him, seeming to be pondering something. Legend let the silence marinate for a bit, before letting out a deep breath. 

“You’ve got something on your mind. Spit it out,” Legend said, catching Hyrule off-guard. He started spluttering and put one of his hands up defensively. 

“W-what? No! I-I-I don’t have any questions or-or anything!” Hyrule replied, waving his extended hand wildly. Legend smirked a bit, and Hyrule’s face fell defeatedly. 

“Ask away,” Legend replied, hoping that Hyrule wouldn’t ask a question that he didn’t want to answer. That wouldn’t end well for either of them. 

“Do… Do you know why?” Hyrule asked. Legend paused, puzzling over that for a moment. Why… Why he couldn’t die? 

“I don’t really know, Hyrule. Found out during my first adventure when I got stabbed and got back up after bleeding out on the forest floor, but I never figured out why,” Legend replied, a lot more nonchalantly than he probably should’ve. Hyrule balked at Legend’s answer, and he could imagine why.

“Didn’t… Didn’t you say you were  _ thirteen _ on your first adventure?” Hyrule asked, voice extremely small. Legend nodded once as he kept walking, but he stopped after a few feet when he realized that Hyrule wasn’t standing next to him. Legend turned around, raising an eyebrow at Hyrule, who stood stock-still as he stared at the ground. 

“You alright over there?” Legend asked, giving Hyrule a once-over. Was he… Was he trembling? 

“You were younger than I was, Legend. It might’ve been by a year, but you  _ died _ when you were  _ thirteen _ !” Hyrule said, his voice low but full of passion. Legend paused for a moment, before nodding once. 

“Yeah. But I’m still standing now, aren’t I?” Legend asked. Hyrule blinked a few times, before shaking his head a bit. 

“I mean… Yeah, but-!” Hyrule was cut off by Legend continuing to bulldoze through his point. 

“I’m standing now, and that’s what matters. The past is in the past, and we can’t change it. All we can really focus on is the future, Hyrule,” Legend said, turning away from Hyrule to look up at the sky. The stars were starting to come out, and Legend spotted one familiar constellation among the stars above his head as more and more pinpricks of light came into view. 

“You’re… You’re right,” Hyrule said from behind him. Legend didn’t glance behind him, but he did look over when he felt someone stand next to him. Hyrule stood there, a determined look on his face. Legend didn’t question it verbally, only raising an eyebrow. Hyrule locked eyes with him.

“In the future, you’re not going to have to do anything like that. You shouldn’t have to do anything like that to make sure anyone’s safe, because you should stay safe too,” Hyrule continued. He clenched a fist, and broke eye contact to look down at it. 

“I’ll make sure of it,” Hyrule finished. The two were quiet for a few moments, the only sound around them being the sound of crickets and cicadas around them. They both stood there for a couple minutes, letting the stars fully come out and the sun to fall below the horizon. The moon had started to rise before either of them spoke up again. 

“We really should get back to camp. Wild had finally figured out how to dry out some wood when I left, and Twilight told me he’d probably be two hours. I think it’s half an hour’s walk from here to camp?” Hyrule said, shaking them both from the almost-trance they were in. Legend nodded. The two started walking again, and there was a comfortable silence between the two of them as they walked. Eventually, though, it broke again. 

“So, um. Are you going to talk to anyone else about this?” Hyrule asked, trying his best to phrase his question carefully. Legend flinched, and Hyrule flinched in response. 

“Of course not. You wouldn’t know if you hadn’t seen it. It’s like what I said earlier - I don’t want to talk about my secrets and if no one else has to reveal theirs then I don’t need to talk about mine,” Legend replied, trying his best to not sound icy. He knew he failed when Hyrule flinched again. 

“But… Wouldn’t it be a good idea to just… I don’t know, just talk about it? It’d be… therapeutic in a sense?” Hyrule said, his statement sounding more like a question than Legend thought he probably wanted it to. 

“None of my secrets will come out unless it’s under circumstances like these, or if I absolutely need to. Suffice it to say the latter likely won’t happen, and I’m hoping to prevent the former from happening again,” Legend said. 

“I… If you’re sure,” Hyrule replied quietly, and Legend saw him looking down at the ground. With a few deft movements, Legend reached over and gave Hyrule a pat on the shoulder.

“Think about it this way. You’re part of an exclusive club that only has four people - me, you, my Zelda, and Ravio,” Legend said with a grin. Hyrule looked up and gave a small smile in response. 

“But I do have to ask. I don’t want to talk about this with the others, so unless I give you the okay to - which likely won’t happen - please don’t mention anything about what happened to the rest of them. As to why I’m borrowing one of your undershirts, mine got caught on a jagged tree branch and a giant hole got ripped in it,” Legend continued, adjusting the wrinkled undershirt he had tucked into his belt. There was still the matter of bloodstains on it… Oh. 

Hyrule’s eyebrows rose as Legend walked over to a mud puddle and pulled his bloodied undershirt from his belt. He opened his mouth to ask what Legend was doing, when Legend threw the shirt into the mud and stepped on it, moving his foot around for good measure. 

“What are you  _ doing? _ ” Hyrule asked incredulously as Legend picked up the muddied undershirt from the puddle. Legend grinned. 

“When my shirt got caught on the branch, I fell into a mud puddle. I cleaned myself off and you let me borrow this undershirt. I’ll probably need to slip into one of my own when we get back to camp, though, this is tight around my shoulders,” Legend said. Hyrule only nodded dumbly. 

“I… Alright,” he said, not really understanding what Legend was doing but going along with it. Legend took one look at Hyrule’s dumbfounded expression before bursting out laughing. 

“Your face! It’s hilarious!” Legend said as he laughed, though Hyrule didn’t join him. He was still baffled. As Legend’s quick bout of laughter died down, he gave Hyrule another serious look.

“But in all seriousness, I can trust you won’t tell the rest of them, right?” Legend asked. It was quiet for a moment, before Hyrule nodded once. 

“Yeah. And… I wanted to apologize. I put you on the spot in front of everyone earlier, and I shouldn’t’ve done that,” Hyrule said. Legend waved a hand. 

“Just don’t do it again,” Legend said. Hyrule nodded again, and the two kept on walking, keeping up light conversation as they did. 

* * *

Legend could hear a slightly panicked voice as he walked to the edge of the tree line around the small clearing their cave campsite let out into. 

“What if they got lost, or one of them got hurt, Time? You should let me go after them,” Twilight said. Legend could see Twilight pacing back and forth at the mouth of the cave, and Time wasn’t visible. Warriors, however, was. He was fiddling with his sword almost absentmindedly. 

“Legend’s the most experienced adventurer in the group, pup. Have some confidence in him. And Hyrule’s no slouch either. They’ll be fine,” Time replied, and Legend raised an eyebrow as he locked eyes with Hyrule. Time was that confident in the two of them, huh? 

“Twilight’s not the only one who’s worried, Time,” Warriors said, gesturing in the cave to someone that Legend couldn’t see. 

“And Hyrule said he’d be back before Wild finished up making food and he’s almost done with that,” Warriors added, gesturing towards Wild, presumably. Twilight spun around to face towards where Legend presumed Time was and threw his hands up. 

“Why’re you acting so nonchalant about this! Just because Legend’s experienced doesn’t mean he’s immune to injuries!” Twilight said, sounding a bit frustrated. Legend chose that moment to step out from the trees with Hyrule only a step behind him. 

“I’d like to think that I am, thanks,” Legend called as he started walking towards the cave. Twilight whirled back around and blinked a few times, before running up and giving Legend a hug without warning. 

“Oof!” Legend said. Twilight held on tight for a few seconds, before letting go and stepping back, still keeping a light hold on Legend’s shoulders.

“You’re wearing one of Hyrule’s undershirts, what happened?” Twilight asked as Warriors walked - it seemed more like he power walked, but Legend couldn’t tell - up to the three of them. 

“Well, when Hyrule showed up when I was walking a bit off the path, I tripped and my shirt got caught on this jaggedy tree branch and got torn. Ended up falling face-first into a mud puddle. Luckily there was a lake that I could clean up in nearby, and Hyrule let me borrow one of his undershirts so I wouldn’t be walking around with a muddy torn open undershirt. It would’ve been bad for both of us if we’d gotten attacked when I was wearing that,” Legend explained. Twilight narrowed his eyes a bit, before nodding. 

“That would’ve been real bad, yeah,” Warriors said as Twilight started leading him back into the cave. Legend could smell something a bit gamey, and his stomach grumbled its protest. Twilight started laughing at that, and quickly all four of them were all laughing at Legend’s minor misfortune. 

“Dinner’s almost ready, you four!” Wild called out, and a chorus of gasps rang out from the cave. Four, Wind and Sky, Legend guessed. As the four of them walked into the cave to the delightful smell of roasting meat and vegetables, Legend and Hyrule locked eyes. Hyrule gave Legend the smallest of nods, and Legend cracked a small smile in response. 

What happened that day, Legend thought as dinner was served, was an utter disaster. He hadn’t been expecting a fight with a mob of monsters, or for Hyrule to find out one of the secrets he held closest to his heart. But he couldn’t change that now, so he supposed he’d just go with it. He wouldn’t purposefully be revealing that secret to anyone else, anyways. 

At least none of his other secrets had surfaced. Legend was  _ definitely _ not ready to explain any of them to their motley crew of Links. Especially his fourth adventure. That wouldn’t ever be coming out. 

When everyone settled down for that night, Legend moved outside to go and look at the stars again, trying to spot familiar patterns in the dark sky. No one moved to join him, since he was on first watch for the night. It was calming, he thought, as he glanced up occasionally to map out the stars above him. He didn’t find many familiar constellations, but there were a few he noted. At least there was that one constant. 

Legend knew that he was a secretive man. This was an established fact that anyone that knew him longer than five minutes could agree with. He might not have intended to share one of those secrets that day, but it happened. He couldn’t’ve stopped it, even if he’d really wanted to. And Legend wasn’t sure he would’ve wanted to. Well, aside from the whole dying part, but that’s neither here nor there. His  _ point _ was that he felt a little lighter. He wasn’t going to go sharing any secrets with anyone any time soon, but maybe… Maybe having someone to talk about this one while he travelled wasn’t the worst idea. 

**Author's Note:**

> BONUS: 
> 
> “None of my secrets will come out unless necessary or if I want to play a prank on Warriors, let’s be real,” Legend said. The duo were quiet for a moment, before they both started laughing their asses off, because this was a wonderful idea. 
> 
> “Now that would be a sight to see!” Hyrule managed to say between his laughs. Legend nodded, unable to speak due to his own raucous laughter. Maybe he would do that…
> 
> A month later, Legend proceeded to scare the everloving shit out of Warriors by popping out of a wall and saying ‘boo’. He might’ve gotten stabbed because of it, but it was totally worth it. 
> 
> oh what do you know, it's my [tumblr](http://nerdiests.tumblr.com), check it out if you so wish!! 
> 
> and happy birthday to loaf again !!


End file.
